Irrational Games restructuring, all but 15 members leaving

BioShock series creator Ken Levine is closing the doors to Irrational Games and will take an unspecified new role with Take-Two. Most of the remainder of Irrational's staff will be laid off.

With BioShock Infinite about to conclude its final story, series creator Ken Levine made the shocking announcement that developer Irrational Games will be restructuring significantly. Levine and a select few others will take new roles within parent organization Take-Two, while the remainder of Irrational's staff will be laid off.

"I am winding down Irrational Games as you know it," Levine said in the announcement. "I'll be starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two. That is going to mean parting ways with all but about fifteen members of the Irrational team. There's no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition."

He explained, "While I'm deeply proud of what we've accomplished together, my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we've done before. To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers."

Levine plans to transition to an unspecified new role that involves "narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable." He adds that any new projects will be exclusively downloadable. It is unclear if the new venture will continue with the Irrational Games banner. He noted that 2K will take the reins of the BioShock universe, so this may not be the end for the series.

He added that other Take-Two will try to help affected members land new jobs, whether elsewhere within 2K or with other developers, for whom it plans to hold a recruiting day.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what is video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?